Rapid-thermal processing (RTP) is a standard production technology for electronics manufacturing. In particular, RTP systems employing mercury-arc lamp arrays have been used to process silicon (Si) wafers for the creation of semiconductor devices. High volume manufacturing RTP systems have been designed to create uniform temperatures across the substrate surface.
Heretofore, RTP systems have been used to provide uniform temperature for entire substrates, and experimental studies of process variables have required dedicating an entire wafer to each process condition to be tested. What is needed is a system that allows systematic exploration of process variables in a combinatorial manner with many variations on a single substrate, especially for RTP applications. The most promising process parameters can then be extended to the processing of entire substrates.